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Hockey is Just Alright With Me

So tonight I went to my first hockey game. Notre Dame’s team is doing pretty well this year (I hear they’re ranked #1) and tonight they hosted the Bulldogs of Ferris State. Some of my dorm girls were going, so I thought I’d check it out. It turns out that hockey is pretty fun in person. It’s a very fluid sport; the smooth way the men move around the ice is really a sight to see. It’s also a very violent sport; a fight broke out with 6 minutes to go in the first period that sent 4 guys to the penalty box. The dichotomy between the smooth and the rough is actually kind of cool. I feel like hockey may go the way of golf and soccer. For more explanation and pictures, follow me…

When I was young, I always used to feel like golf and soccer were both really boring sports. I would see them on TV and they just seemed unexciting, nothing like football or basketball. Baseball also seemed a little dull on TV, but since I played it (well, softball, but you get the idea) I knew that it really was exciting and I just had to get into my team more. However, once I hit high school my brother started to play golf and in the summer he would travel to tournaments and I would go with him sometimes and be his caddy. I started to appreciate the sport and now I’ll sit down 4 days in a row and watch the Majors on TV.

Soccer was much the same until I spent the summer in London this past year. I was there for the World Cup excitement and I got all caught up watching with Englishmen in pubs who were so into it that I couldn’t help myself. In fact, after only 3 weeks of enjoying World Cup play in London, I was bound and determined to get to a city in Germany on the day of a game, just to experience the atmosphere. I ended up going to Dortmund and wrangled my way into a ticket to arguably one of the best matches of the entire tournament, the Germany-Italy semi-final.

So, hockey may be going the way of golf and soccer. I had a great time at the game, and it was much easier to follow in person (on TV sometimes I have a hard time telling where the puck is). Perhaps I will follow NOtre Dame through their run in the post-season and maybe I’ll even pick myself out an NHL team to root for. Maybe another hockey-hater has been converted tonight.

The following two pictures are of the game, which was knotted at 0s when I left, even though ND had 20 shots on goal and Ferris State had 4. The last picture is of the first intermission entertainment and I gotta tell ya, it was about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. #1 looked so befuddled (he’s in blue on the far left) and he just kinda skated around, tra la la. I wanted to take him home with me!

Hockey games work best in person. I love the sport now, but didn’t really get to appreciate it back as a teen until the Nordiques became the Avs and I could see a team live (plus, the University of Denver’s hockey team got more press around the time, too).

I’m addicted to college hockey–I was a minor league hockey fan growing up, but now that I work for a university with a big time hockey program, I have found a new love. In fact, my first date with my boyfriend was at a college hockey game, and two years later, we now are proud owners of a pair of season tickets. (I knew he was committed when he said, “I think we should buy season tickets together.” That’s the closest you’ll get a law student to proposing marriage.)

They always have mite teams play in the intermission, and most of the time, they are absolutely adorable. And sometimes, they play better than some of the perpetually lower-rung teams our team plays.